Reinhold Hanisch

Reinhold Hanisch
Reinhold Hanisch, painted by Adolf Hitler, signed and dated Vienna 1910
Born	27 January 1884 Grünwald, Bohemia
Died	2 February 1937 (aged 53) Vienna, Austria
Nationality	Austrian
Other names	Fritz Walter
Occupation	painter
Known for	association with Adolf Hitler
Spouse(s)	Franziska Bisurek (1918-1928, divorced)

Reinhold Hanisch (27 January 1884, Grünwald an der Neiße (Czech: Mšeno nad Nisou^[]) near Gablonz/Neiße, northern Bohemia, Imperial & Royal Austria – 2? February (death date controversial) 1937, in Vienna, aged 53) was an Austrian migrant worker and sometime business partner of the young Adolf Hitler. Hanisch, who published articles on Hitler, with whom he had lived in 1910, is, next to August Kubizek, one of the few witnesses to Hitler's Vienna years. The veracity of Hanisch’s publications, however, must be taken with caution.

Hanisch attended elementary school in his homeland. He descended from a low nobility family but his parents became poor and decadent. Despite his aristocratic ancestors, he hired himself out as a casual laborer and house servant. Hanisch was imprisoned in Berlin three months in 1907 for theft, and in 1908 was sentenced to six months in prison. In the autumn of 1909 he came to Vienna, where he was employed as a servant. In the Vienna homeless shelter in Meidling, where he lived, he met Hitler, 21 December 1909. In 1910 Hanisch lived with Hitler, whom he took under his wing, in the Meldemannstraße men’s dormitory. The first months of 1910 constituted a kind of Hitler-Hanisch Partnership: While Hitler painted postcards and pictures, mostly watercolors, Hanisch took over their sale. The men shared equally the sums received.

Finally, Hitler split with Hanisch, accusing Hanisch of selling one of Hitler’s paintings (a very carefully crafted view of the Vienna Parliament) and keeping the entire proceeds of the sale for himself. Hanisch denied this charge. In order to secure a new revenue stream, Hanisch began painting and became Hitler’s competitor. Hanisch supplied, among others, the Jewish frame dealer Jakob Altenberg with pictures and postcards.

On 4 August 1910 Hanisch was reported to the police by another dormitory resident, Siegfried Löffner, who was acting as Hitler's seller. The Vienna police discovered that Hanisch was registered in Vienna under the false name of Fritz Walter. On 11 August 1910 a Viennese court sentenced Hanisch to seven days in prison.